


> Nepeta/Equius: playdate

by orphan_account



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/M, Sadstuck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-08
Updated: 2011-12-08
Packaged: 2017-10-27 02:09:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/290497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nepeta decides to visit Equius' hive for a playdate. Unfortunately, she dredges up some unpleasant memories from his past.</p>
            </blockquote>





	> Nepeta/Equius: playdate

AC: :33 < well im coming over anyway so there!   
CT: D --> Very well  
CT: D --> If you are going to insist on visiting, I suppose I may as well a%ept it, rather than wasting energy on a pointless resistance   
AC: :33 < yeah, you should! s33 you in a bit, equius!   
CT: D --> Goodbye for now

\-- arsenicCatnip [AC] has ceased trolling centaursTesticle [CT] \--

Such a free spirit, that one. It's quite adorable. I suppose I should prepare this place or... something... hm. There's not really much I can do to clean up, is there. I guess I could... remove the posters from the walls, don't want her seeing those... oh dear, I seem to have made a hole in the wall. Curse my brutish strength.

Arthour having successfully repaired it, I give him the gentlest pat I can manage. As usual, he bruises heavily, despite his being one of the strongest Lusii on Alternia. I growl, my strength angering me, and decide it would be prudent to work out some of this anger before she should arrive.

Stalking down into the lab/fight ring, I find the toughest robot I can, punching it in the chest and watching the metal crumple like tissue. Another punch and its head flies across the room, crashing into the wall and detonating. Another few punches and the robot is reduced to scrap metal. I tear through another three robots this way before I finally manage to calm down, and once more Arthour is summoned to deal with the mess. He whinnies agreeably as he begins and I resist the urge to pat him again, instead returning to the upstairs level and poking at the posters with half a bow in some attempt to remove them, with moderate success.

The robot shells, I just hurl out of the window.

A while after I have made my hive respectable, Nepeta finally arrives, pouncing on me and tackling me to the ground. She giggles, getting off me to let me stand up without hurting her. She purrs and extends one paw - HAND, she has hands, her cat jokes must be rubbing off on me - to me, in some attempt to shake my hand. I look at her with some concern, and she correctly reads me; for the first time, she speaks to me in person.

NEPETA: :33 < youre worried youll hurt me, arent you mister zahcat?   
EQUIUS: D --> ...Yes, actually I am  
EQUIUS: D --> My STRENGTH is such that, were I to attempt to shake your hand, I fear I would crush it   
NEPETA: :33 < well then youd better let me do it hadnt you!   
EQUIUS: D --> Indeed  
EQUIUS: D--> Feel free

She places her hand in mine and holds on gently, a delicate gesture I could never achieve. She shakes my hand with a fluid grace, the result of her upbringing with her catlike Lusus. I feel myself perspiring as I ponder her, and she removes her hand.

NEPETA: :33 < g33z equius you really do get sweaty! i thought that was just some joke you had fur some reason.   
EQUIUS: D --> ...Yes, I apologize  
EQUIUS: D --> Give me a moment, I will fix it

I head to the dark recesses of my room and locate the dryest towel I can find, mopping the sweat from my hands and face as best I can. It's not perfect, but then it never is; it'll have to do. I return to her, finding her looking at the tattered remains of my posters with a sort of feral attentiveness.

EQUIUS: D --> There we go, I have rectified the situation  
EQUIUS: D --> I do apologize for it, but I am unfortunately unable to control my own perspiration   
NEPETA: :33 < youre funny equius! using all of those big words like that.   
EQUIUS: D --> I am afraid I am not trying to be amusing; it is simply the way it occurs to me to talk   
NEPETA: :33 < whatefur! i think we should play a game. got any games around?   
EQUIUS: D --> ...I think I have -- oh, wait, never mind

I suddenly remembered that I had crushed the game pieces in an attempt to move three spaces to the right, as dictated by the dice roll.

NEPETA: :33 < well ill just have to suggest one then!   
EQUIUS: D --> If that is what you wish   
NEPETA: :33 < i know youre a mechanist sorta guy... do you pawssibly have any robots we can play with?   
EQUIUS: D --> Well, I don't have any robots that are explicitly designed for playing, but I am certain I can reprogram some to be relevant to this pursuit   
NEPETA: :33 < PURRsuit equius! come on, its not so bad making cat puns.   
EQUIUS: D --> I will do my best

And we while away the hours, casually conversing and playing with my robots. It seems a very short time to me before it is morning, and Nepeta is clearly becoming drowsy. Since she is not going to suggest that she sleeps, I take it upon myself to do so.

EQUIUS: D --> Nepeta, I believe you are becoming tired  
EQUIUS: D --> I think it would be in your best interests were you to sleep   
NEPETA: XOO < nooo! i dont wanna sleep, i wanna keep playing with you!   
EQUIUS: D --> And you can continue playing with me in the evening, Nepeta  
EQUIUS: D --> For now, you are tired, and should rest   
NEPETA: XOO < FINE, LUSUS. ill sleep if thats what you say.  
NEPETA: :33 < but one condition.  
NEPETA: :33 < i wanna sleep curled up on you!   
EQUIUS: D --> ...Certainly, if that is what you would like to do  
EQUIUS: D --> I know you usually sleep curled up with your Lusus, so it would be impolite of me to deprive you of a similar source of warmth   
NEPETA: :33 < GEEZ mister bigwords all you do is talk and talk and talk! just let me curl up on you already.   
EQUIUS: D --> Certainly

She curls up, and, true to her word, lies her head and upper torso in my lap, an adorable smile on her face as she drifts off into a gently purring sleep. I look down at her and my instinct is to gently stroke her hair, reaching out my hand to do so.

But suddenly I stop, memories flooding back.

  
_...Another time, more than a sweep in the past. A female who I know from my excursions has accompanied me to my hive, and I am becoming somewhat flustered. As usual, this is leading me to become somewhat sweaty, and she seems uncomfortable in light of this; she turns to leave. I panic, and grab hold of her arm in an attempt to make her stay; all of a sudden she is screaming and struggling, and I can feel a horrible cunching under my hand. All the blood drains from my face, and in my panic it doesn't occur to me to let go... I keep on clinging on as she tries to escape my grip, further damaging her arm. As I recall, she lost the use of that arm entirely... I, meanwhile, had to withdraw from that social circle, and I was shunned by almost everyone... everyone, that is, until a message flashed up from a Trollchat user named arsenicCatnip, seeking a friend..._   


And suddenly I'm back in the present, my arm shaking slightly, halfway towards her head. My eyes widen as I realize what I was about to do, and for the briefest of seconds my mind conjures up images of what would have happened had I not remembered; it is not a pretty sight. I pull my arm away sharply, and she shifts slightly in her sleep in response to my movement; she turns over and shifts her arm into an almost-hug; she has no idea how close she came to a very unpleasant death.

I pull my hand as far away from her as I can. Tears begin to roll down my face as I consider how much my strength places me outside society... how little I'll be able to interact with normal people... with Nepeta. I do my best to keep my crying quiet so as not to disturb her, pleading for someone, anyone, to take away this curse.

Nobody answers.


End file.
